this ain't mj's blankie

a good friend recently gave birth to her second son.
i'm gonna stop for a minute and tell you something--this girl was at work at 1:30 in the morning, having contractions so powerful they were almost bringing her to her knees.
her supervisor finally said "GO HOME!"
she went home, tried to sleep for a bit, and finally woke her husband and said it was time to head to the hospital.
they arrived at the hospital at 3:30 am, their little man arrived at 5:30 am.

yeah, so, i don't didn't really want my husband to know the details of this story. unfortunately, he already does. his reply?
"maybe you should go get a night job".

nothin' but sweet, that's what he is. (i kid...he's a perfect husband)

anyway, moving on....

i am not a quilter. not at all.

i don't do well with large unwieldy pieces of fabric that don't fit well through my machine. but since we found out we were expecting V (you know, as in #5...my ancient roman humor slays me) i felt the niggling urge to make a blanket for him/her.

and then dana @ made posted this tutorial on making a faux chenille blanket. PERFECT! i fell in love. it looks so soft and snuggly and cozy...and just right for someone who can pretty much sew a straight line (if she concentrates really, really hard) but is decidedly NOT a quilter.

so i decided to make one for my friend's baby, you know--as a trial run gift.

i used a super fuzzy and soft brown fabric. seriously, i think at joanne's it was called something like "super fuzzy and soft blanket fabric". i may be wrong about that though. then i appliqued his name on with an anti-pilling fleece.

lyle was named for his late grandfather, who (whom?) he never had the chance to meet. everytime my kids looked at the blanket they sang "lyle lyle crocodile".



the backing and binding were done in an adorable green flannel. it had brown drawings of different animals all over it--including crocodiles hehehe.

now, dana does her lines all in the same direction. however, i am easily bored/distracted/slightly ADD...so i started in the middle and sewed the lines to one end....and couldn't do the same thing the other way.
too monotonous for this momma.
so i turned it and ran the other lines perpendicular to the first set. 
personally, i really like the way it turned out.  

i washed and dryed it once, but explained to the mom that the more you wash & dry it, the more "ruffly" it becomes. (check out the photos of dana's blanket--super ruffled up)

i layered a brown polka dot, and just a plain white (both quilters cotton) under the flannel. they'll peek through more as it gets washed. even though those cottons are fairly thin, with all the layers this is a really nice weight blanket. feels really warm and cozy.

to go along with the blanket i made a little hat.
i used the dimensions and basic idea from martha's website (you know--THE martha) found here.

i did adjust the directions to make my contrast brim.

and can we just talk for a minute about HOW STINKING CUTE those sheepie buttons are? i have been drooling over  lusting wanting (ahem) to use them for so long now. but they're not exactly the kind of thing you can just throw on any old project.

and the ears???? oh boy. i die from the cuteness. i am a sucker for ears, and for sheepies. V's head may never see the light of day now that i've been introduced to the easiness of fleece hat sewing...

all together, a cute little combo. hoping little lyle lyle crocodile gets many uses from it!

i'll be linking up at some of these fine parties!! check 'em out for more great ideas!!!

googiemomma learns direction(s)

i had a plan. a dream, if you will.

in all our additions and renovations to this house, we ended up with a kind of weird pass-through type un-room.

it connects the living room and family room, it looks into the kitchen and over the front porch. it's not big enough for major furniture, but not small enough to just ignore.

for lack of...well, anything better, we call it the "breakfast room".

wanna see?

here's my super official floorplan:

it's pretty accurately not to scale. which means i didn't use a ruler, but i'm pretty good at "eyeing" things.

and i had a plan.

i decided it needed a bistro set.

but not just any bistro set--an authentic one. one made from metal. with curls, and cuteness. looking like it just walked in from an old fashioned ice cream parlor. or a sidewalk french bistro.

i read all these other blogs, about these mommas that get super awesome amazingly cheap great buys on craigslist. i figured what i wanted--a curly, cute little bistro set--would be something i could find there.

so i searched. the thing is, i kept searching what i assumed was my closest craigslist--philly. and i realized the problem is it's philly. so yeah, i found bistro sets--for $200. 'cause even junk is gonna be more expensive if it's city junk.

i was frustrated and annoyed. was everyone lying about the great deals they were scoring? was i doing something wrong?

clearly, these options were both impossible.

but one day it hit me!

i don't have to go south! there's north! and east! and west!

each with their own craigslist!

and armed with my newfound knowledge of direction, i found this little beauty:

the curls! the swirls! gorgeous!

2 chairs and a table, rusty but sturdy, for $60, a mere 20 minutes to the east. (who says nothing good comes out of jersey?) 

i set them up outside and gave them a good cleaning with a wire brush. and then got out a blogger's BFF:

ahhh spraypaint, how i love thee. let me count the ways....

a good coat of primer on it all:

and two coats of shiny shiny red... oooohh ahhhh....

now, fabric is the hard part. because a couple of years back in a burst of creativity, googiedaddy and i had wallpapered 2 walls of our "breakfast room". 
with a rather ornate paper.

i didn't want another color introduced to the room. but i didn't just want a plain fabric. so we searched, and we found.
and googiedaddy again put his skills to good use making new seats & backs....

yeah, it's white. yeah i have 4.5 kids. wanna make something of it?
scotchguard, oh how i love thee...let me count the ways....

isn't she loverly?
and while i was taking these pictures, i got the bright idea to "stage" my bistro set...

i know, i know...it should be tea. but you'll have to deal with the last dreggs from the coffee pot. because, let's face it, i'm not that committed.

and yes, all you nit-pickers (knit-pickers? i guess it depends on if you knit, or have nits) the creamer and sugar bowl are in italian. right there next to my eiffel tower. but i lurve them. and my sister-in-law bought them for me after i drooled over them in italy. (and by italy, i mean at epcot. which is the closest i'll probably ever get to italy with my overactive uterus and all)

so there you have it. googiemomma learns new directions, gets a bistro set, and speaks italian.
who says i can't accomplish a lot in a day?

i'm linking up to some of these fun parties!

let them eat cupcakes

a couple of weeks ago we all went to hear five's heartbeat for the first time. :)
always fun.

afterwards we got cupcakes and went to the park. it was a gorgeous fall day.

i can't believe this little monster just turned 2. TWO!

 did i mention there was cupcakes?

yummmm....


you have no idea how it tortured them to take this shot--"look, but DON'T TOUCH!!!"

 some of us ate the whole thing...





some of us just like the icing...

and leave the rest of the cake for daddy

and believe it or not, some of us just like the cake...

and leave the icing for mommy...

but in the end, there was no cupcake left to be found.

then we burned off some of our cupcake-y energy on the playground.

this is pretty much why i married him.

and i got this as a bonus...

sorry, excess pregnant sappy hormones escaping. :)